Any info, advice or links would be appreciated. Also, for my son, do Ferrari, lambo, Pagoni do anything similar? Think Ferrari is invitation only. We`re going to Italy in July and I thought a trip to the Ducati factory might be good. Unfortunately, my other half and daughter have chose the location, Lido di Jesolo. The devious minxes have gone for beaches instead of Ducati factories, we`re 120 miles from Bologna. No guarantees I`ll get there but any info would be nice. My suggestion to ride there via Bologna and meet them has been shot down already .
My guess would be Jesolo to Venice by train or bus then train to Bologna. Borgo Panigale is only a short taxi ride away from Bologna rail station. Can't help with info re Ferrari etc. obviously make sure you book the factory and museum tour, 'cos they don't do it as a just turn up job.
The Ducati factory tour & museum tour is pretty easy to book (I did it last year) a few days in advance, and cheap, but you do have to book. Once the tour starts you have to keep moving through with your group, so don't think you can spend hours studying the fabulous race bikes in the museum! The Hotel Borgo is in Borgo Panigale, about 100 metres from the factory - I stayed there. The Ferrari museum at Maranello you could either turn up on spec and queue to get in, or preferably book a day or two before. IMHO it is well worth a visit if you like road or race cars, or architectural design (the factory buildings are works of art). And you can spend as long as you like - no groups. Lamborghini has a museum at Sant'Agata but you have to book up long in advance - I didn't apply soon enough, so couldn't get admission. Maserati has always been too skint to afford a museum, apparently. They all have websites which give details about tours & museums. Hope this helps a little.
I think the factory say officially that you need to book and i would not want to rely on doing anything other than that. But, if you haven't booked and you get a chance to go while driving past give it a go. I have been twice,the first time, i turned up at the factory gate unannounced on saturday lunch time with the wife and asked if it was o.k There was a large german group collecting in the car park and the girl from the factory came and said to me that the tour would not be in English this day. I was gutted of course until she said " if you go inside the museum to the first floor one of the lads will give you a tour in English ! We were shown around just the two of us and all gratis. The museum was not part of the tour so you could walk around that for as long as you wanted afterwards. I am not aware of any time restriction there at all.
Thanks for all that guys. Thinking about it, a 200+ miles round trip with very limited Italian, on "planes, trains and automobiles" is probably to much for one day, have to see. If I work my "disappointment" right, I might blag a permission slip for WDW 2014, WOOHOO! :wink: Thanks again.
I remember a trip to go to the ducati factory over a weekend Flew to airport around half hour from Milan then had to book return train tickets to bologna ( it can be done with help lol) Did it on the machines there but booked the wrong train went to help desk and got the right ones. It's a fairly long train ride I think it was 4 hours Missed our Saturday slot Rebooked for the sunday. I booked the hotel which said it was just outside bologna which ended up 6km away!!! Taxis are fun I have never been so fast and through such small spaces and bollards in a controlled way. Missed the Sunday slot too as public transport was every hour back to bologna Never got to the tour but you can get by for travel by public transport BUT I WOULD ADVISE fly to the nearest airport and have your travel sorted
You still got the wrong train by the sounds of it. Milan to Bologna is 1 hr 15 min. did it other way round this year. Stayed in Bologna and did day trip to Milan. At a station such as Venice the machines will give you an option to do it all in English. Plan ahead, look at train timetables ( can be found online), so that when you go to station you know exactly which train you want, otherwise you can end up on slower local trains, it may be that here isn't a fast service between Venice and Bologna, but a bit of research now will pay dividends.
Thanks again for the replies. Think in all honesty I was grasping at straws thinking I`d travel all that way in one day. We`re only going for ten days and if I disappear for seven of them, lost somewhere in Italy, I won`t be very popular. Think I`ll kickback on the beach with a beer instead, plotting a trip on the bike. BWAAHAAAR!
For anyone planing a trip, I went about eighteen months ago and enjoyed both the Ferrari and Ducati museum. The Ferrari museum is good, but note they rotate the cars as its not that big a site so it is a gamble what you will see. The Ferrari factory as far as I understand is only accessible if you own a Ferrari. The Ducati factory tour is amazing as how many production lines do you get to walk along as they assemble and test the bikes? Add to this the museum which plots their history with both road and race examples of bikes you can stand next. I even got a photo of a Diavel being road tested in the November before its release at the gates. Please note there is a large accessory and clothing shop off site down the road but it is closed on a Mondays, so you will have to use the on site one. We were based in Bologna and got a taxi there but it was a train journey and a taxi to the Ferrari museum but you do go past Fiorano which is Ferrari's test track so you may be lucky and see some F1 testing. Well worth a weekend trip!
Last WDW we rode from Misano home in one day, left at 9am arrived home at midnight, so it can be done, but I wouldn't recommend it. The factory tour is excellent though. First time we went we saw the 848 a full 6 months before launch. The museum is not to be missed, the shop's not great though and is tiny.
Also bear in mind that since last summer at least, they now charge for the tour (whereas the previous time I went it was free...and a lot more in depth as I recall but that might have been because it was during the summer shutdown). If you've got your owners card you get a discount.
Got lucky last year We made the visit after last year's WSB at Imola. Just happened to be there at the same time as a certain superstar...
I visited the factory about a month ago ( pre booked the tour) cost about 10euros. I stayed about 15 mins from town centre, travelled to the factory by bus. Worth visiting the dealer about 400 metres away, all the Ducati merchandise on sale and all sizes available ( you get a discount if you show your factory tour pass) Nice city to visit, lots a good bars, students,..... Not many Ducati's about, just zillions of manic scooter riders.....
You obviously missed the "ladies" plying their trade on the side of the autostrada coming into Bologna :wink:
You might want to be careful, I'm not certain about that area of Bologna but often the Italian 'Ladies' of the street are not always Ladies...
Do you mean the finishing school they came from or the existence of dangly things in their Janet Reagers ?
Yes, chicks with dicks - tranny prossies are quite 'popular' in Italy, at least there are plenty of them so they must be getting business somewhere...
